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A city as divided as Knoxville is obliged to be polite. Hence there’s never been a Civil War monument downtown. The monuments on the Knox County Courthouse lawn reflect only the pioneer era and the Spanish-American War. It’s a rare Southern […]

For the time being, you can still see where the portraits of John Scruggs Brown and his wife, Carolyn P. Brown, were; they left dark rectangular patches on the paneling in the lobby of the 1954 University Center, which is […]

Go drop in on the University Center. It hasn’t been much heralded, but this month is your last chance to visit a local institution. It’ll be demolished in a few weeks. That’s not news; its demolition was first publicly announced […]

You don’t notice the Greek classicism of Fifth Avenue from the ground. It comes as a surprise when you look to the north from the top of Vine Street. You might think you’ve just sighted Knoxville’s forgotten Acropolis. Seeing it […]

If you’re like me, 1990 may not seem all that long ago. You may have noticed, as I have, that as we get older, the period of time we think of as “recent” gets longer and longer. For me, the […]

It was springtime, and musicians from around the world, from the big cities of the North and from the capitals of Europe, were converging on Gay Street. It exalted the old town in surprising ways. When it was underway, fans […]

[media-credit name=”Courtesy: Knoxville Jewish Alliance” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit] Arnold Schwarzbart died in Knoxville last week, at the age of 73, after a long illness. He was once best known here as a prominent modernist architect, the designer of unusual structures like […]

I’m just getting back out, a little, after almost half a year in a hole. I know 20 or 30 restaurant and bar owners, and want to be sure they know it hasn’t been anything personal. It’s just that I […]

Every year, millions will crowd around televisions to watch the most famous New Year’s Eve celebration in the world.  The ball drop at Times Square in New York has become a universally recognized symbol of an annual new beginning.  It […]